The advantages of dental floss have been well documented and dental floss has been widely sold and widely used. Dental floss has been typically available in dispensers which permit a user to dispense a desired length of floss while storing the remainder of the unused floss in a reasonably hygienic manner.
The choice of materials from which to fabricate dental floss dispensers are limited to those materials accepted by regulator agencies as being safe for the storage of such materials and by the cost of such materials. These dispensers are typically fabricated from one type of plastic which is opaque in nature. The choice of the plastic is usually determined by the ability of the plastic to be easily and economically molded into a shape. It is also desirable for the plastic to posses the ability to form an integral or "living" hinge thereby permitting molding of moveable parts from a single piece of plastic. However, plastics that possess the ability to form a "living" hinge are typically opaque in nature and therefore do not permit the user to view the interior of the dispenser offering no opportunity for the user to determine how much dental floss is present in the dispenser.
Transparent plastics have been used to fabricate dental floss dispensers. Dispensers fabricated from these materials permit one to view the contents of the dispenser without exposing its contents thereby keeping the unused portion of the dental floss in a reasonably hygienic state. However, the transparent materials typically do not offer the opportunity to include "living" hinges in the design of the dispenser and therefore preclude design of a dispenser with unitary hinges.
Dental floss dispensers have been designed which incorporate a body of opaque plastic capable of forming a living hinge and a window of a transparent material thereby permitting a user to determine how much dental floss remains within the dispenser. However, producing such a dispenser presents difficulties since the transparent material must be secured to the opaque material thereby requiring complex molds and/or skilled assembly.
Dental floss dispensers are usually quite durable and could function for an extended period of time, however, dental floss dispensers contain finite lengths of dental floss and a typical dental floss dispenser design does not provide the user with an opportunity to refill the dispenser with a fresh supply of dental floss when the supply contained within the dispenser is depleted. The dispenser is typically discarded.
The instant invention is directed to a novel dental floss dispenser which has a body of a plastic capable of forming a "living" hinge in which is secured a window of a transparent plastic. The dispenser permits a user to refill the dispenser with a new supply of floss thereby extending the useful life of the dispenser.